Google Removes Restriction on Free Data Studio Tool

Having last year launched free and enterprise editions of its Data Studio analytics tool, Google yesterday announced it's removing a restriction on the no-cost version.

Google Data Studio, part of the company's data analytics suite of offerings, provides access to disparate data sources and facilitates shaping up that data for presentation in reports and dashboards.

It comes in two editions: a free version targeting individuals and small to medium-sized companies, with certain functionality restrictions; and a for-pay Google Data Studio 360 edition for larger enterprises. Both versions are still in beta.

Yesterday, Google announced it's removing one of the restrictions limiting the number of reports that can be generated in the free version.

"To enable more businesses to get full value from Data Studio we are making an important change -- we are removing the 5 report limit in Data Studio," the company said in a blog post titled Making Google Data Studio Free for Everyone. "You now create and share as many reports as you need -- all for free."

The removal of the five-report limit isn't yet reflected in the comparison page for the two editions. That page also lists other restrictions on the free edition, including limiting it to just one report owner, providing only "basic" user and account administration and no implementation services. Google didn't say those restrictions were being removed.

Google said it had received positive feedback and tremendous demand for the Data Studio beta over the past nine months and removed the five-report limit as part of its continuing enhancement of the product.

"This change combined with a very exciting roadmap for 2017 are designed to accelerate our goal to help you fully leverage all your data across your organization and to ultimately make better decisions," the company said.

While there was much "positive feedback" in the 91 comments affixed to yesterday's blog post, several commenters decried that Data Studio isn't available in all countries. A support document lists those countries where it is available.